1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an agitator mill for the treatment of free flowing grinding stock, comprising a grinding receptacle, which defines a substantially closed grinding chamber partially filled with auxiliary grinding bodies; and an agitator unit, which is disposed rotatingly drivably in the grinding receptacle and is cup-shaped relative to a common central longitudinal axis and which comprises an annular cylindrical rotor, within which is disposed an interior stator joined to the grinding receptacle, a grinding stock supply line opening into the grinding chamber outside the rotor, a grinding stock/auxiliary grinding body separating device being mounted on the interior stator within the rotor, to which separating device a grinding stock discharge line is connected, the separating device having outer annular disks and inner annular disks, which alternate with one another in the direction of the central longitudinal axis, defining separating gaps between them, the width of which is less than the diameter of the auxiliary grinding bodies.
2. Background Art
An agitator mill of the generic type is known for instance from U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,577. In this agitator mill, which has been extraordinarily successful in practice, the inner annular disks and the outer annular disks are mounted against rotation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,362 teaches an agitator mill which comprises a separating device formed by a separating gap at the grinding stock outlet, this separating gap being formed between a disk disposed on a driving shaft of the agitator unit and a stationary cover.
DE 26 31 623 C2 teaches an agitator mill comprising an agitator unit with a shaft on which agitator disks are mounted. Inner annular disks are fixed against rotation on this shaft. An outer annular disk is disposed for free flotation between two neighboring inner annular disks so that the separating gaps may adjust freely between an outer annular disk and an adjoining inner annular disk at a time.
DE 196 38 354 A1 teaches an agitator mill having an agitator unit which is disposed to be driven in rotation in a grinding receptacle and which is cup-shaped relative to a common central longitudinal axis, having an annular cylindrical rotor within which an interior stator is disposed which is connected to the grinding receptacle. A separating sieve is mounted within and on the rotor and is sealed towards the interior stator by means of a seal. This seal in the form of a slide ring seal comprises two coaxial slide rings which bear against each other by spring loading. It is the purpose of this design to avoid clogging of the separating sieve.